OCTOBER 22 KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Oct. 22 Keynote Address – 2010 Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference
from NCUSAR on Vimeo.
Speaker: HRH Prince Turki Al Faisal Al Sa’ud –Chairman, King Faisal Foundation, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; former Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the Court of St. James and to the United States of America; former Director General, Intelligence Directorate General, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
MUPPET DIPLOMACY
Muppet Diplomacy – 2010 Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference
from NCUSAR on Vimeo.
Mr. H. Melvin Ming − Chief Operating Officer, Sesame Workshop.
Sesame Workshop shares a common mission with the National Council on U.S.- Arab Relations – to promote awareness, knowledge, and understanding of the Arab countries and the Islamic world. Referring to its work as “Muppet Diplomacy,” Sesame Workshop has been creating captivating youth programming that has reached across divides for over forty years. More than thirty countries, including Egypt, Palestine, and Jordan, have developed local co-productions of Sesame Street. With the help of furry and fuzzy Muppets, these programs reach children by focusing on the unique educational needs of each country – interspersing lessons on basic reading and math with lessons in cooperation, mutual respect, and understanding.
OCTOBER 22 LUNCHEON WELCOME
Oct. 22 Luncheon Welcome – 2010 Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference from NCUSAR on Vimeo.
WELCOME ON BEHALF OF HRH PRINCE TALAL BIN ABDULAZIZ AL SA’UD: HRH Prince Abdulaziz bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Sa’ud – Chairman, Arab Open University Forum; Chairman, Transpacific Broadcast Group International.
AMBASSADOR’S REPORT: Saudi Arabian – U.S. Relations: The American Ambassador’s View from Riyadh
Ambassador James B. Smith − United States Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
VIDEO ENERGY: Sources, Supply, and Security
CHAIR:
Ms. Randa Fahmy Hudome − President, Fahmy Hudome International; former Associate Deputy Secretary of Energy; Member, Board of Directors, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations.
SPEAKERS:
Dr. Herman Franssen − President, International Energy Associates and Senior Associate, Energy and National Security Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies [CSIS].
Mr. Jay Pryor − Chevron Corporation, Vice President for Corporate Business Development.
Ms. Rayola Dougher – Senior Economic Advisor, American Petroleum Institute.
GEO-POLITICAL DYNAMICS (III):
The Palestinian Future – Impediments to Peace and Possibilities for Progress
CHAIR:
Mr. William Corcoran − President, ANERA (American Near East Refugee Aid).
SPEAKERS:
Ms. Kathleen Christison − former Analyst, Central Intelligence Agency; Author,Perceptions of Palestine: Their Influence on U.S. Middle East Policy; The Wound of Dispossession: Telling the Palestinian Story; and, Palestine in Pieces: Graphic Perspectives on the Israeli Occupation.
Dr. Sara Roy − Senior Research Scholar, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University.
Mr. Andrew Whitley − Director, UNRWA Representative Office, New York.
Ms. Barbara Lubin – Founder and Executive Director, Middle East Children’s Alliance.
COMMENTATORS:
H.E. Sameh Shoukry − Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the United States.
H.E. Maen Areikat − Representative of the Palestinian Liberation Organization to the United States.
KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Lieutenant General John R. Allen − Deputy Commander, United States Central Command.
GLOBAL EDUCATIONAL CHALLENGES: WHAT FUTURE ARAB EMPLOYMENT PROSPECTS?
CHAIR:
Ms. Anne Joyce – Vice President, Middle East Policy Council; Editor, Middle East Policy.
SPEAKERS:
Dr. Mody Al Khalaf − Director of Social and Cultural Affairs, Saudi Cultural Mission, the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia.
Ms. Magali Rheault − Senior Analyst with the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies.
Ms. Maggie Mitchell Salem − Executive Director of Qatar Foundation International; former Regional Director for the MENA region at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems; first Director of Communications and External Relations for the Middle East Institute; former Foreign Service Officer, United States Department of State.
COMMENTATOR:
Mr. John Moran – Career Member of the U.S. Senior Foreign Service, United States Department of State; Distinguished Diplomat in Residence, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations.
DEFENSE COOPERATION
CHAIR:
Secretary William S. Cohen − Chairman and Chief Executive of the Cohen Group; former United States Secretary of Defense (1997-2001).
SPEAKERS:
Dr. Anthony H. Cordesman− Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy, Center for Strategic and International Studies; Adjunct Professor in National Security Affairs, Georgetown University.
Mr. Joseph McMillan − Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, Department of Defense.
Mr. Christopher Blanchard − Analyst in Middle Eastern Affairs, Congressional Research Service.
COMMENTATORS:
Major General Mohammed Elkeshky − Defense Attaché of Egypt to the United States and Canada.
General Joseph P. Hoar (USMC, Ret.) – Former Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Central Command.
REGIONAL SECURITY ISSUES – EVOLVING CONCERNS
Dr. Kathleen Hicks – Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans, and Forces Department of Defense
AMBASSADOR’S REPORT: Saudi Arabian – U.S. Relations: The Saudi Arabian Ambassador’s View from Washington
H.E. Ambassador Adel A. Al-Jubeir – Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United States and Advisor at the Royal Court.
OCTOBER 21 KEYNOTE ADDRESS
INTRODUCTIONS:
Dr. John Duke Anthony − President and CEO, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations.
Rear Admiral Harold J. Bernsen, (USN, Ret.) − Chairman, Board of Directors, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations; President, Board of Trustees of Physicians for Peace; Director, American-Bahraini Friendship Society; former Commander, U.S.-Middle East Force; and Director Emeritus, National U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce.
SPEAKER: Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker – Dean and Executive Professor at the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University; former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq (2007-2009); former U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan (2004-2007); and previously served as U.S. Ambassador to Syria, Kuwait, and Lebanon.
GEO-POLITICAL DYNAMICS (II):
The Iran Conundrum
CHAIR:
Dr. John Iskander − Chair of Near East and North Africa Area Studies at the Foreign Service Institute; Professorial Lecturer at the Elliot School of International Affairs, George Washington University; former Professor of Islamic Studies at Georgia State University.
SPEAKERS:
Dr. Flynt Leverett − Director, Iran Initiative, Senior Research Fellow, American Strategy Program and Director, Geopolitics of Energy Initiative, New America Foundation.
Mr. Thomas Delare –Director, Terrorism Finance and Sanctions Policy, Economic Bureau, United States Department of State; former Minister Counselor for Economic Affairs, U.S. Embassy in Rome, Italy; former Minister Counselor for Economic Affairs, U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq.
Dr. Trita Parsi − Founder and President of the National Iranian American Council [NIAC]; author of Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Iran, Israel, and the United States and silver medal winner of the 2008 Arthur Ross Book Award from the Council on Foreign Relations; 2010 recipient of the Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving world Order.
Dr. Kenneth B. Katzman − Specialist in Middle East Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division, Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress.
COMMENTATOR:
Dr. Thomas R. Mattair − Executive Director, Middle East Policy Council; Associate Editor, Middle East Policy.
GEO-POLITICAL DYNAMICS (I):
The Endgame in Iraq
CHAIR:
Mr. Charles Dunne – Resident Scholar with the Middle East Institute; former Foreign Policy Adviser to the J-5, Director of Strategic Plans and Policy of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon; former Director for Iraq at the National Security Council.
SPEAKERS:
Dr. Michel Gabaudan − President, Refugees International
Mr. Michael Corbin − Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iraq, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs
Ms. Manal Omar – Director of Iraq Programs, Center for Post-Conflict Peace and Stability Operations, United States Institute of Peace
Mr. Brian Katulis – Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
DISTINGUISHED LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR PEACE, JUSTICE, AND MULTI-FAITH COOPERATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award – 2010 Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference from NCUSAR on Vimeo.
Presented to: Dr. Landrum Bolling
Dr. Landrum Bolling is Director at Large and Senior Advisor to Mercy Corps working out of its Washington, D.C. office. His long career has spanned the academic world − where he was President of Earlham College for fifteen years; the foundation world – where he served as President of the Lilly Endowment, one of the largest grant-making foundations in the world, and Chief Executive Officer of the Council on Foundations; the world of ecumenical relations – where he was Director of the Tantur Ecumenical Institute in Jerusalem; and the world of “non-official” diplomacy – where he has long served as a communications channel between the White House, the State Department, and Palestinian leaders.
ARAB-U.S. RELATIONS: Misadventures Past and Present
Ambassador Chas W. Freeman, Jr. – Chairman of the Board, Projects International, Inc., a Washington, DC-based development firm specializing in international joint ventures, acquisitions, and other business operations for its American and foreign clients; former President, Middle East Policy Council; former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs (1993-94), earning the Department of Defense’s highest public service awards for his roles in designing a NATO-centered post-Cold War security system and in reestablishing defense and military relations with China; former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia (during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm); Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs during the U.S. mediation of Namibian independence from South Africa and Cuban troop withdrawal from Angola; and author of the newly published America’s Misadventures in the Middle East as well as The Diplomat’s Dictionary (Revised Edition) and Arts of Power: Statecraft and Diplomacy.
Council Chronicle – Vol. 3, No. 3 (Fall – Winter 2009) (.pdf file)
“ARAB-U.S. RELATIONS: THE WAY FORWARD”
Arab-U.S. Relations: The Way Forward – 2009 Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference from NCUSAR on Vimeo.
Speaker: The Hon. Charles W. (“Chas”) Freeman, Jr. − Chairman of the Board, Projects International, Inc., a Washington, DC-based business development firm specializing in international joint ventures, acquisitions, and other business operations for its American and foreign clients; former President, Middle East Policy Council; former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs (1993-94), earning the Department of Defense’s highest public service awards for his roles in designing a NATO-centered post-Cold War European security system and in reestablishing defense and military relations with China; former U. S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia (during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm); Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs during the U.S. mediation of Namibian independence from South Africa and Cuban troop withdrawal from Angola; and author of The Diplomat’s Dictionary (Revised Edition) and Arts of Power: Statecraft and Diplomacy.
“THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION:
VIEWS FROM THE ARAB WORLD”
The Obama Administration: Views from the Region – 2009 Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference from NCUSAR on Vimeo.
Chair: Ms. Barbara G.B. Ferguson − Washington Bureau Chief, Arab News; Co-Chair, International Correspondents Committee, The National Press Club, Washington, D.C.; author, “Country Reports” on Bahrain, Morocco and Kazakhstan for the Washington Times; embedded war correspondent during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in Kuwait in 1990-1991 and in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.
Speakers:
Mr. Ibrahim Helal − Deputy Managing Editor, Al Jazeera Satellite Television, English; former Deputy Managing Director, News and Programs; former Middle East and North Africa Project Director, BBC World Service Trust, responsible for the training and development of Arab media organizations; Editor-in-Chief, Al-Jazeera Arabic Channel (2001-2004); former Head of News, Abu Dhabi TV (2000-2001).
Mr. Hisham Melhem − Washington Bureau Chief, Al-Arabiya, the Dubai-UAE based satellite channel; former host of Al-Arabiya’s “Across the Ocean”, a weekly current affairs program on U.S.-Arab relations; Correspondent, Annahar, the leading Lebanese daily.
Ms. Nadia Bilbassy-Charters – Chief Correspondent, Middle East Broadcasting Center, Washington, D.C., covering the White House and the State Department; formerly Al-Arabiya Television Diplomatic Correspondent; former Bureau Chief for Middle East Broadcasting Center based in Nairobi, Kenya covering conflicts across the African continent; formerly with both Inter Press Service News Agency (IPS) and Agence France Press (AFP).
